Chapter 3: Let Tonight Be Full of Falling Snow
It was real easy for him to reach terminal velocity – the highest speed this young man was able to reach only after a few seconds of jumping off the ice cliff… a feeling as if he was floating in the air, for he could not go faster beyond such speed and no way for him to slow down such speed, hence velocity became constant. Such speed of a wind blast with over a hundred of miles per hours that he could feel on the tip his toes even though they were tightly concealed inside the rubber boots; he could still sense the chilly wind force going through between his toes and his legs for falling first, and could also sense his whole body being swallowed by gravity, violently pulling him closer to the frozen lake below with every second ticking away,
Quite a horrible and unpleasant thing he might experience right now… knowing his life at the mercy of Time and gravity, he could not prevent his own face from facing down the ground to see how far before his feet crumbling down onto the frozen lake blow, even though his eyes were barely able to open entirely before the blasting chilly wind hitting his face constantly,
Yet remained relax he had to in order to survive the fall; after all, he was the one who chose this 'skydiving' path, meaning there was a plan he already had laid out to slow down himself. But first, his body had to stay relax and his mind to stay calm… balancing his poise was the most important thing to keep it on a standing posture and had to stay near the steep wall of the ice cliff, with his right hand tightly gripped the crystalline spear—didn't want it to slip out of his grasp—and his left hand remained free to carry out the first step of his plan,
"H-hope it'll work. Come on now, do your thing… air resistance,"
Untying the cincture belt that bonded the thick winter jacket of his, the young man began to half strip the garments meant to protect him from the chilly wind. Luckily though, he wore quite a few other layers of clothes underneath it; warm and thick enough to warm him still while stripping open the front side of his thick and oversized-looking winter jacket in order to increase the cross-sectional area of himself, thus increasing the air resistance and helping him to slow down a bit in the air,
"It's… so much colder than I thought, and it does literally nothing. W-well, so far I've predicted it… and now… for the final touch,"
The now free left hand of his quickly grabbed for the crystalline spear; and in tandem the two hands of his grabbed for its long and sturdy shaft, as the young man began to turn his whole body facing the steep wall of the ice cliff. Seeing the frozen ground below wasn't far until the inevitable impact, he swiftly raised both of his hands along with the crystalline spear, with its head facing the steep wall of the ice cliff, and he waited for a short momentum – to thrust the spearhead into that wall of ice. And he did, while he was hanging onto it,
However, whether that crystalline spear was too sharp, or that ice wall was too fragile… or simply the gravitational force was too strong pulling the young man down… the crystalline spear was still being dragged down along with the young man, as if it cut through paper, even when his both feet already stepped onto the ice wall to add frictional force that should help him slowing down,
But still,
"The ice… is too slippery!"
All didn't go as he had planned; too many miscalculated acts and too many overlooked variables. It still didn't change the fact that he managed to slow down his falling speed in a significant amount though, but still hadn't enough. And in the end, he still had to endure quite a bit of pain, mostly around his bottom, as he stared down and the impact could happen any moment now…
"D-darn it!"
Fortunately for him though, right at the bottom of the ice cliff, a bank of snow was blocking his bottom's way down. Snow that was heaped up by the wind and piling up on the edge of the frozen lake. Not so much, but such a snowdrift was enough to cushion the falling impact which had to be endured by his bottom… enough to not make him letting out a scream full of pain, but only a whimpering grunt that he let out as he bounced off the snowdrift, and started sliding down with his back facing the cold yet soft snow… sliding down the snowdrift till his back could no longer feel the cold yet soft snow, but the rigid cold of the frozen ground,
The young man somehow—and miraculously—managed to stay conscious after falling from a height of more than a mile that was backed up by that half-witted plan of his. Successfully getting to this frozen lake with his body intact and only this freezing and cramp sensation around his back and bottom that he had to deal with, sure he was thrilled knowing his half-witted plan—albeit didn't pan out well—was a success, hence he snapped open his eyes, remembering still there was another reason why he had to be in here: there was a rather sweet damsel in distress he had to save from a certain pack of wolves,
But just like how he fell from that high ice cliff, things weren't as easy as they sounded… after barely escaping the indiscriminately gravitational force, another hurdle he had to handle… but unlike the former, this one clearly was visible before his gawking eyes out of shock,
"…!"
He was aghast to gawk at apparently there was someone—rather more like something—that welcomed him first right in front of the hazel eyes of his once there were opened. It was big and scary-looking; long and large muzzle of a ferocious beast he had ever seen which displayed rows of small yet a lot of razor-sharp teeth with saliva dripping down disgustingly to his dumbfounded face from within its gaps, forming a beastly mouth that looked not so friendly; in fact it looked so fuming with intent to kill as a growling sound was heard out of that beastly mouth about to take a deadly bite from his startled face… to tear the face of this young man apart that was frozen in fear,
Until the very last second the young man snapped himself into reality, realizing what Fate awaited him if he did not move right away from that beastly mouth that was opened and lunged at him, showing closer its oral cavity full and smell of blood no doubt from its previous preys – and he strongly refused to be its another prey. So rolling away that was he did quickly; swiftly rebalanced his posture, getting back his poise to stand on his own feet, and finally was able to see fully the current hurdle he had to handle… or rather… to disable it,
Because no matter what happened, it seemed like it wouldn't let him to get closer to those five wolves who already surrounded that damsel lying down seemingly listless but still alive on the frozen lake… and no matter what it took, the young man knew he had to take that beast down fast while every second was ticking away fast,
"I see… so you're their new pack leader, eh? You don't want me to disturb your family's supper. While them five are about to enjoy their evening meal, you're stuck here guarding the surroundings from any intruder. Being a pack leader surely is a difficult job to do, don't you agree?"
Trying to do a friendly chit-chat with the beast before him; though no chance such a beast before him would understand a word uttered by him; but in doing, so the young man as if tried first to calm himself down while trying as well to arrange a plan inside his mind in order to at least repulse that beast. Yet with very limited time in hand, moreover that beast wasn't just an ordinary Wild Beast, but closer to a freak of nature…
Before him… a wolf thrice as large and tall as any adult human; having the thickest and bushiest fur to live and survive in harsh and cold enviros all year around, and the densest fur shaded in most black and brown with barely any white shade to be found around the wolf's massive body. Such colors, and a ferocious mien coupled with the sheer size of that wolf alone already could bring any grown man down to his knee, feet frozen in fear before fleeing with tail between legs—if one was capable of—from the living blizzard that was approaching… in a very literal way,
For not long after a seemingly hostile eye contact, the brown and black shade of the wolf's fur was slowly fading away – turning it white as snow as the blizzard came; even in the midst of a bright night, it came out of nowhere and whirled around the wolf as if the wolf itself was the center of such a bizarre blizzard. And as it grew stronger, the blizzard became unbearable for the young man's eyes to keep gawking at; no choice but to close his eyes, covering his whole face with his arms and steadying his footing because of the chilly gust tried to push him away. Yet even so… even if he was able to get through it, even if he was able to stand firm amidst the chilly gust… too cold it eventually became and became unbearable,
The chilly gust eventually led to frostbite… as if there were countless pins and needles, throbbing and aching within the young man's skin to the bone; protected under his winter clothing or no, the frostbite he was able to feel throughout his body to the bone… feeling cold, numb and becoming white, especially his unprotected skin around his bare hand and scalp,
"D-darn it… if I don't do something, m-might as well I become a solid ice at this point,"
Words came out trembling out of his lips starting to turn blue as his blood vessels shrank to minimize heat loss from the warm blood; and when the lone act of shivering to combat the cold he felt became more apparent, he knew his body would soon succumb to the cold for his sight slowly became blurry – the first sign of imminent blackout was before him if he didn't do something about it quickly…
"T-to hell with it! I'm too much overthinking it… a-and time's running out…"
…therefore, he quickly grabbed for another crystal seed out of his little pouch, having another half-witted plan in mind,
"…the only way to defeat that thing… and to save her… I don't care what will happen to my body anymore,"
However, before he could even do something with a crystal seed that he managed to grab, he felt a sudden racking pain around the stomach as if he had just been hit by a blunt force coming from the frozen ground he was standing on right toward his gut,
Such blunt trauma that caught him off guard, true enough was coming from a huge ice pillar suddenly protruded from the frozen ground just below him… throbbing violently and punching him hard right to his gut, hence threw him high into the skies and faltered in the air a hundred yards backward, before tumbling down onto the frozen surface of the lake and causing a few cracks here and there on the thick ice… miraculously however, the young man seemed just fine. He vomited no blood, cracked no bones, and neither showed visible bruises nor injuries around his body which quickly got back on its own feet… limping not, was instead capable of standing firmly on the frozen surface of the lake as though nothing happened,
"Whew—that was really a close call. Thought I wasn't gonna make it, haha~"
For the first time the young man showed a smile; instead of relief, it was a faint hint of satisfaction… as if victory was assured to be on his side when the real battle wasn't even begun yet. Yet here he was, with his skin gradually reddened and blood vessels tightened, becoming large and looking more apparent, while his eyes were slowly glowing hot pink and emitting as if there was unnatural heat from inside his core body… and likely because of such anomalous changes throughout his body slowly were becoming a plain to see, the young man gained steady and self-confident steps approaching the blizzard before him,
As the blizzard ultimately ebbed away, fading away to reveal finally what it once tried to hide… or more like… what it once tried to abort a fetus of something entirely new being; born out of its scattered falling snow in a chilly gust of snowstorm. It was the same beast… the same wolf yet no longer black and brown that of the previous wolf, because most of its 'impure' colors had been buried in thick layers of pure white; of ice that covered its whole body as though it was armor of some sort. Plate armor made entirely of ice that protected the wolf whose body had seemingly increased in size as well. Nearly ten times the wolf grew in size, and ten times looking more menacing as well… more so by growing a pair of ice wings that of dragon protruding from its spine, and growing two more tails that were made of ice as well,
A three tailed, and winged beast… before the young man was a creature that was far resembling a natural look of a wolf. That beast before him wasn't just an ordinary Wild Beast… not with its large and long muzzle that always breathed out frosty mists of ice whose dreadful cold he could feel hitting his smiling face with every step he dragged towards such a beast,
And with a seemingly too polite tone of speaking, as though he was asking permission first if things turned ugly, he then grabbed and shattered another crystal seed…
"So, it is Animals of Anomaly, eh? That really is unfortunate. Though I knew how rare your kind is… but since you're getting in my way, please forgive me… for I shall have your head to be cut loose,"
Weekly Power Status
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